Two de la Mare Songs were written for the mezzo-soprano Clare McCaldin (who had premiered my song-cycle Lakesongs the year earlier) and are settings of two poems by the eponymous poet. Over the past years I had been struck by the songs of Franz Schubert, the economy of means, certainly in terms of the piano accompaniment and texture and how he manipulates this, subtly, to enhance the mood and the narrative of the song. I wanted to replicate something of this in my songs – each has one key idea that is varied and manipulated to provide the backbone to the song. The songs are dedicated to fellow composer and Oxfordshire resident Donald Lane, without whom they would never have come into being.